Tamara O’Callaghan is an accomplished singer, performer and musician based in Brisbane.
A recent graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music’s Bachelor of Music, majoring in Jazz Vocal, Tamara lists five reasons why more Brisbane venues should employ musicians.
1. Music enhances your business. What could be a more enjoyable experience than sitting down with a wine and/ or a beautiful meal and hearing good quality live music? I’m a girl who loves matching things, and food and music go together like Batman and Robin. People are more likely to stay longer, order more, bring friends and come again if they enjoy the experience that you offer. Live music enhances this experience and brings you closer to creating an environment that is enjoyable and enticing.
2. New clientele can be brought into your venue. Who knows what new customers could walk past and come in because they are digging the music they hear? That new customer could end up becoming a regular, but even if that doesn’t happen that is one more person coming in and paying. They might tell a friend, who might tell their friend and so on.
3. You can take baby steps. Now I’m not suggesting that your business needs to jump in and book live performances every day of the week. You could easily start with a monthly artist feature or group to build up community interest and go from there.
4. We are pretty fun to work with. Who doesn’t love a musician as a dinner party guest? Musicians are great fun to work with and when we are playing and feel the groove we are at our happiest. Musicians are happy to work odd hours, cart heavy equipment, travel for miles, work in sometimes bizarrely small spaces, learn requested songs on the spot and talk and respond to audiences. Why? Because we just love our job that much. Happiness is contagious isn’t it?
5. It supports other Brisbanites. There is a lot of talent in Brisbane and they just want to come in and play, entertain, work and help your business grow by having more people listen to them. You are helping them give back to the community and supporting local talent by hiring live music. So don’t be shy even if you don’t consider yourself a musical virtuoso; go and find one of the many musicians in Brisbane to complement your business!
Tamara O’Callaghan plays the Brisbane Jazz Club Thursday April 17 as well as Thursday May 29.
